Another mile and a half on the trail past Upper Geiger Lake is Lost Buck Pass which crosses the Cabinet Divide just below Carney Peak, at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. Looking east from the pass you can see Upper Geiger Lake and beyond, the Vermilion River watershed. The view to the west includes Wanless Lake, Engle Peak, and Goat Peak. To the south you look down the entire length of the Swamp Creek drainage and the Clark Fork River can be dimly seen far in the distance.

I know how different it is from the less mountainous areas. Folks can drive around this particular wilderness and still not see what it is like. I’ve been surprised to find so few Montana natives who have seen more than the tall peaks from a distance. It has so much more inside it.

My favorite of this group is the one showing the tree paralleling the lines of the mountains. By their nature, the mountains communicate a sense of solidity, but that photo seems filled with movement — I suppose it’s the different lines, and the great pairing.

It almost seems as if that tree is symbolically trying to protect its mountain home. I could (and perhaps some time I will) spend days there studying the rocks and the trees that make up the ecology of that place. I would just love to be there during stormy weather and experience the winds that must blow through that pass and probably cause many of the trees to look the way they do.

Majestic and breathtaking are words that come to mind when I look at these shots. It’s not hard to tell the direction of the prevailing winds when seeing some of those trees! Such strong roots they have to have to be able to stand against it. I’d love to spend a month or two exploring there.